The Challenge to End Well
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The Challenge to End Well [ 2:24 ]
A new measure of success: A faith adventure that could redefine your life
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“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10
What is true in track and field is equally true in life: how we end the race is more important than how we begin. God does not take new believers straight to heaven upon salvation. Instead, He leaves us here on earth and gives each of us a ministry to carry out with Christ’s all – sufficient power.
God has specifically designed a place of service to fit our personality, gifts, and abilities. He also equips and strengthens us to be able to meet the challenges of that call. The believer’s responsibility is to obey with joy.
Too many Christians approach ministry with stingy hearts, investing as few hours as possible so that they can return to work or personal pursuits. Corporations do not own us; neither do we belong to ourselves. We are adopted sons and daughters of the Father God, and as such, we honor Him first.
Show me a man who works ten hours a day and thinks he doesn’t have time to assist the Lord’s work, and I’ll show you a man who is wasting ten good hours he could be using to serve clients and coworkers for Jesus. Service does not have to be “religious” or take place in the church. Don’t try to separate spirituality from day – to – day reality – truly satisfying ministry can happen anywhere, when we first take the time to be alone with God.
If people were here only to work a job, pay bills, and have a few laughs, no one would ever enjoy long – term fulfillment. But believers find peace and joy in serving God every day according to His call. That is the only way to end well.
Question: In what way(s) would you like to “end well” as we come to the close of this year?
About this Author: Charles Stanley
Are the good works we are prepared for to be done alone, as an individual? Unlikely.
Rather, we are part of the Body, each part serving its own unique role. This doesn’t absolve us of our individual responsibility, but suggests that we must work in concert to be effective.
The question then becomes less about how “I” can finish well, but rather how “we” can finish well, together, collectively as the Church.
How much has been left unaccomplished because of our propensity toward the reliance-on-self way of thinking, being selfish and self-centred, rather than working in community, in fellowship, co-labouring in God’s work together with other believers?
May I suggest, from a different perspective, that our culture pressures us to conform to the pattern of going-it-alone and reliance on self, rather than admitting our need for others, confessing our weakness and living in relationship to others? This cultural pressure is conforming us in ways that we might not easily recognize: how we treat the homeless, how we view personal wealth, how we relate to our neighbours (we might not even know their names), or how we damage the environment.
Individualism and self-centredness have both temporal and eternal impacts, I think.
[...] God does not take new believers straight to heaven upon salvation. Instead, He leaves us here on earth and gives each of us a ministry to carry out with Christ’s all-sufficient power. (Read the full Devotional) [...]